The Question That Tells You HOW To Close The Deal

During role-play at one of my recent seminars, the person playing the part of the sales person asked the prospect:

“What do you like best about your current vendor?”

Aaaaack.

What’s Wrong with This Question?

(1.)  It is asking the prospect to sell herself/himself on the reasons why s/he is using the current supplier; to list all the benefits s/he is getting from the vendor.

It does not accomplish anything except asking the prospect to list all the reasons why s/he should continue doing business with the competitor.

(2.)   It does not move the conversation forward toward getting the information the sales rep needs in order to proceed with the conversation.

There is another question that does not accomplish anything more than insulting the prospect’s judgment.

That question is:

“What do you like LEAST about your current vendor?”

Very few people will give you an answer to this.  Some will feel defensive – it puts them on the spot.  Almost like asking, “Why did you make the dumb decision to choose this vendor?”

The Best Question

There is one question that can give you EXACTLY the information you need.

The High Gain Question

After you have established rapport with the prospect (the prospect who is currently ordering from another vendor) the question to ask is:

“On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, how would you rate your current supplier?”

Very few people will answer with a “ten.”

You may hear seven or eight or even nine.

After the prospect answers with any number lower than a ten, you ask the key question:

“What would it take to make them a ten?”

After asking that question, the sales rep MUST remain silent until the prospect answers.  This is a hard thing for some sales reps to do:  remain silent and LISTEN to the answer.

The answer to this question will tell you EXACTLY what you need to do to earn the business.